Friday, December 23, 2016

Dirt City Chronicles, Year in Review: 2016 Jan.- May

March
2016

First
post of 2016.... it being three months into the new year and all. I
plead guilty with an explanation. Dirt City Chronicles, after 16
years exiled to the bootheel country of SW New Mexico is now back in
Albuquerque. With turnarounds to Amarillo and Deming and a 24 hour
motor trek from the Duke City to Appleton, Wisconsin out of the way,
I can finally settle back into my regular routine of gutter sniping.
From the desolate outbacks of New Mexico to the outskirts of
Albuquerque's westside, Dirt City Chronicles is back up and streaming
in glorious, compressed stereo. Boy Howdy!

As
a rule of thumb, post rock i.e. emo/screamo/math rock bands drew the
ire of local music aficionados. Looked upon as a blight, the boys of
angst never received their due nor garnered praises worthy of their
respective musical talents and recording output. The locals didn't
warm up to them, maybe it was the indecipherable lyrics or the
swirling racket over which they screamed. Whatever it was, you can't
unring that bell. Oh! Ranger, Kid Crash, Your Name in Lights, Pilot
to Bombardier, Dear Oceana, The City is the Tower..... we can sing
their praises now, it's ok. As a whole, they combined to create a
definitive Albuquerque sound that went shamefully unnoticed.
Archabald belatedly carries on that tradition.

“The heavens
themselves blaze forth the death of princes” or as the case be,
Prince. The world mourns the passing of music's second most enigmatic
celebrity (surpassed only by Jacko) He was totally fucking cool and
bad ass....an exaggerated foppish mini-pimp decked out in puffy
sleeves and every shade of purple imaginable. I gotta say though, I
was never a huge fan. As for his status as musical genius, lest we
forget, the Love Symbol formerly known as Prince, followed up “Purple
Rain” (a trite, quasi-biographical musical, chock full-o- drama for
yo' mama and bad acting) with the much maligned “Under the Cherry
Moon” (a self indulgent, pretentious clunker, filmed in black &
white, no less)

Prince's performance at
Super Bowl XLI in 2007 was electrifying. (the bar for halftime
entertainment having been set quite low..... Up With People, Tops in
Blue, Aerosmith, the Janet Jackson / Justin Timberlake wardrobe
malfunction) Opening with a thunderous refrain from Queen's “We
Will Rock You” under storm clouds, then seguing into a muscular
arena rock take on “Let's Go Crazy” The crowd rushed the love
symbol stage platform in a scripted frenzy. Prince effortlessly
worked in covers of Proud Mary, All Along the Watch Tower and The Foo
Fighters' Best of You before closing with a rousing version of Purple
Rain complete with audience sing-a-long. Shine on you crazy diamond.

Few local bands
of late have gained as much notoriety as Glitter Dick. Their Tom of
Finland inspired record release flyer in 2012, was described by the
Weekly Alibi as “borderline pornographic” it caused one UNM
student to lose his shit, grousing that “the image caused him to
lose his appetite” Deemed tasteless and pornographic by the
administration, the flyer was banned from campus. Glitter Dick
followed up with a poster featuring Tom of Finland, Robert
Mapplethorpe and a few other artists.... which didn't help matters
any. Posted around the UNM campus, they were quickly torn down,
though the administration denying having anything to do with their
removal.

In 2013, Glitter Dick then
appeared on the syndicated court-tv show, “Judge Mathis” under
the pretense of lead singer Kendoll Killjoy suing guitarist Magnum P.
Nye. The band would later reveal that the television appearance was
nothing more than a creative way of funding their debut album
“Sparkling Richard” The video of that particular episode has
since been pulled from YouTube. Johnny Wilson (The Gamits) conducted
an interview with the band for his website “For the Love of Punk”
he tried in vain to pry the details from Killjoy and bassist Dee Dee
Ramen (Kenta Henmi) Ramen cut him off, advising Wilson that his wife
is a lawyer while tossing in a curt “Don't Worry About It” True,
she's a partner in the law firm of Maruchan, Ramen & Noodles.

A to Z, women in
Albuquerque are doing it. That hasn't always been the case,
throughout the 1960s, 70s, 80s and into the mid-1990s women (with a
few rare exceptions) were absent from the local scene. We've since
witnessed an amazing turn about, women are now firmly planted at the
forefront of Albuquerque's local music scene. This has brought about
a shift towards more experimentation and genre bending than ever
before. Events such as the Denver based Titwrench Festival, the local
Gatas y Vatas festival (which expanded to Oakland, Ca. In 2015) ABQ
Zine Fest and venues such as The Tannex, are all spearheaded by women
bent on building not just a cohesive musical scene but an inclusive
and varied artistic community. This installment of Dirt City
Chronicles (the podcast) is the first of a triumvirate showcasing
women's contributions to 'Burque's local music scene. Three hours
that are but a sampler of the astonishing and varied music produced
by our better half. Beam me up, there is intelligent life here after
all.

If you follow
Albuquerque's music scene, you can't help but notice the omnipresent
Mauro Woody. A singular songwriter and vocalist who draws listeners
into an inviting aural comfort zone. Hugely talented yet accessible,
confident, vulnerable and fragile all the same. In her own modest
fashion, Mauro has firmly established herself as a unique and
powerful voice on the local scene. Mauro's bewitching delivery,
accented with a variety of vocal nuances lends itself well to the
swirling textures and precise structures of dream pop. That's not to
say that she's not at home outside that genre. “Blue Flowers” for
instance, rooted in Appalachian folk tradition is delivered as a
comforting lilt, a tonic for anguished souls that descends into a
dialogue of ghostly whispers at the end.

“Ouch! Welcome to
Albuquerque” came out in 1999. That iconic double disc set from
Socyermom Records introduced a grip of music lovers to Albuquerque's
music scene and it introduced me to Electricoolade and Frankie
Medina. Española N.M. The self declared lowrider capital of the
Southwest has a rock & roll musical legacy that most New Mexicans
are unaware of. Going back to the mid-1960s, The Moving Morfomen
(also known as The Morfomen) guided by the totally self confident
musical genius of Dave Rarick (an underrated New Mexican rock &
roll icon if ever there was one) resoundingly stamped their brand on
the regional music scene.

The
Morfomen weren't alone, The Defiants scored a minor regional hit with
“End of the Highway” and The Era of Sound earned their indelible
slot on 60s garage rock compilations with “The Girl in the Mini
Skirt” (Cottonmouth i.e. The Wumblies, called Española home before
they set off to find neither fortune nor fame) “Everybody's
doing something...Soda riding like Pops was doing” Channeling the
past and predicating the future.... displaying more swagger than
Swaggy P... Frankie Medina burst out on the local scene with
Electricoolade, an alt-rock outfit from Española that Flipside, a
“legendary” punk rock magazine once compared to The Replacements
& Elvis Costello's Attractions.

You can take
the man out of España, but you can't take España out of the man.
Too cool for school and Santa Fe, Frankie Medina and Calida Salazar
(whom he met at a Santa Fe recording studio) set off for Austin, Tx.
circa 2005. It's been their home ever since. With Frankie on guitar
and Calida on keys, The Dirty Hearts honed the Española sound down
to a razor sharpness.... chock full-o-attitude and swagger. Following
the release of their debut ep “Five Canciones Five Pesos” and
their self titled full length debut “The Dirty Hearts” Frankie
and Calida became Austin's darlings. They netted scant attention from
major labels, though the alternative press doted over them.

Anarcho Punk Folk.... is an
apt descriptor for the musical trend of combining a punk ethos with
unique folk instrumentation. Originally just Alex DenBaars and Beth
Hansen working as a ukele and flute duo... unconventional instruments
not usually associated with Punk or the Straight Edge movement. From
those humble origins Arroyo Deathmatch has evolved into a five piece
“hardcore-and-metal-influenced experimental anarcho folk band”
Alex-vocals, Beth-flute,vocals Jett-washboard, Matt-
bejota~accordion, Cameron upright-grandjo. “Evil folk for evil
folks” Stubbornly acoustic, stubbornly sober, stubbornly honest...
sworn to an ideal, totally committed to lighting a fire under your
ass.

The music grips you. The distance
between performer and audience is totally negated. Alex's fully
throttled vocals force the listener to listen. No escaping or
ignoring what's in your face. With every song, Arroyo Deathmatch
builds to a seemingly chaotic crescendo, that is anything but.
They're as tight as the Mothers of Invention. No shoe gazing
aloofness, no jam band doodling. They electrify, without the use of
electricity. The bejota is an instrument of their own invention. It
sorta looks like an over sized banjo, but it ain't no banjo. For
starters, it only has two strings. The grandjo on the other hand also
looks like a big banjo, but its role within the group is similar to
an upright bass